Oil burner



Nov. 26, 1929. LE ROYIVYVILCOX on. BURNER Filed Nov. 18. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet NOVQZG, 1929. LE ROY w cox 1,736,990

OIL BURNER Filed Nov. 18, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 26, 19 29.

LE ROY WILCOX OIL BURNER Filed Now 18, 1927 S Sheets-Shee 5 abtomwq Patented Nov. 26, 1929.

UNITEDISTATES PATENT OFFICE LE ROY WILCOX, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR '10 COPE-SWIFT COMPANY, IN (3., A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN OIL BURNER Application filed November 18, i927. Serial No. 234,075.

This'invention relates to oil burners suchas are used in connection with furnaces and the like for heating residences or other buildings or for other purposes, the principal object being to provide a new and novel con struction for the same, efficient in operation.

. and economical to manufacture.

j mechanism in which oil is fed into a rotating Another object is to provide, an oil-burning cup-shaped receptacle which delivers the oil to the air streamin a finely divided state which allows it to be readily gasified.

Another object is to provide anoil burning mechanism 'comprisirig an open ended casing in which a cup-shaped receptacle is posi tioned in spaced relationship with respect to the walls thereof, the receptacle being secured 'ceptacle, and the side walls of the receptacle mechanism for, oil burning mechanism thatbeing taperedoutwardly from the bottom of the same whereby the rotation of the receptacle throws the oil off from the edges thereof in a finely divided state into the stream of air'passing the same.

Another object is to provide an oil burning mechanism including a motor, a fan and an oil spraying mechanism together with suit able valves and other control mechanism mounted on a single support, whereby all of the mechanism with the support may be at tached to or removed from a furnace as a unit.

Another object is to provide an oil burning apparatus including a motor, a fan and oil spraying mechanism securedtogether in a unitary structure which may be applied to and removed from its supporting means as a unit.

Another object is to provide a new and novel type of an automatic oil shut-off valve and operating mechanism for oil burners.

Another object is to provide a shut-oft is thermostatically controlled by the pilot light. Another object is to provide a pilot light including a passage increasing in internal area from the point of entrance of the gas to the same tothe discharged'end of the same.

A further. object is to provide a pilot light construction'that will Withstand detonations and blasts of air in the fire pot without being extinguished thereby.

The above being among the objects of the present invention the same consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described. with reference to the accompanying drawings, and

then claimed, having the above and other objectsin View.

In the accompanying drawings which il- I lustrate a suitable embodiment of the present-invention and in which like numeralsrefor to like ent views,

' Fig. 1 is a front View of a. furnace showing the application of-my oil burner mechanism thereto. Y

Flg. 2 is a perspective view of the supportparts throughout the several diifering plate, burner casing, oil trip valve and pilot light assembly.

F ig. dis a perspective view of the motor, fan and oil cup in assembled positi0n.

- Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken axially through the center of the complete assembled apparatus.

Fig. 5 is a side View of the oil'trip valve and vthermostatic operating means for the same. 1 Fig. 6 is a broken top view of light member. i Fig. 7 is a view from the back of the dethe pilot vice showing the arrangement of the valves in the 011 line.

The conventional type of oil burner e m- I p-loyed in connection with furnaces and the like for heating buildings invariably in- I cludesa multiplicity of parts so supported and arranged relative to each other as to form a bulky and ponderous assembly requiring much space and involving consider-- able Work in the applying and removal of the same'toand from a furnace. Such cbnstructions, while unitary in one sense of the word, .usually depend upon a supporting frameincluding standards of various. sizes and shapes to which the'v'arious parts are seunitary construction wherein the door or; plate which is employed for closing the opencured; in addition to the usual .plate which is necessary to close theopenlngrin the furnace throughv'vhich. parts of the burning mechanism must'proj'ect.

' Byvthe use of theprese'nt invention am enabled to provide'raburning- 'mechanismof ing-i'nto the furnace is usedas a support "for. the entire burner mechanism which, because of its construction, is extremely com act and which may be applied to or remove ,from a .furnace within a period of a very few minutes, thus making 1t readily serviceable with-' out any substantial-delay in the operation of the furnace. Y

"Inthe accompanying drawings lvshowtby way of illustration, a furnace having sides 10, dome 11 and front 12. The front 12 is provided with the'usual openings closed by the doors 1'3 and 14 and is pro'videdwith a lower'opening 15 which is closed by the'plate member 16, secured in position by screws-or other suitablemeans 17. The plate '16 is open at its center'as indicated in Fig.4, and ex tending inwardly therefrom in inwardly con verging relationship is the casing 18 .which may beuintegrallyformed .with the plate 16.

' as 20. and nuts 21 whichpass'thro'ugh the.

A second circular casing 19 is secured to the rear end of the casing. 18 bybolts such flanges 22 and 23 which are formed on the casing 18 and 19 respectively. "Closing the 5 rear face of ,the open centerof the plate 16 is a plate 24-provided with a relatively 'large central opening 25, it being heldin place by being clamped between the flange 26 of themotor supporting frame27 andthe' plate 16. The motor'supportin'gframe-27 which isshown in section inFig-s 4.;ext'ends rearwardly from the plate 24 and is located on the plate 16 by means of the dowels 28 and screws 29 of which there, are only two eachf The supporting frame 27 is provided with ja-plurahtyof openings 30 aroundits 1 circumfe'rence for the entrance'ofairto the armature shaft; is. secured an extension 37.

by means of a screw 38 the extension 37 terminating in a flange 39 between which and the sleeve 40 a'fajn of the axial displacement type 41 is clamped. A cup shape member 42issecured to'the inner end of the sleeve 40 by means of the screws 43' which project through the bottom of the cup,the. flanges v 6 of the sleeve 40, the fan 41, and are threadably received in the flange '39 of the extension thus serving. to secure all of these parts in assembled relationship. The armature shaft and extension are. hollow and extending through the same from the back end'of themo tor, and rotatablerelative thereto is an oil; delivery tube 44 which terminates atits inner end shortyofthe bottom of the cup 42.

fsleeve like nozzle member45 having an open lug-in its'otherwise closeduend for the passage p "of the tube '44 is"secured within the sleeve.

extension 37 to a point inwardly spaced from the botto'mof the cup 42. 1 Suitable packing 40 and extends from the'inner end of the '47 isfsecuredinthe noz zle 45 aroundrthe' tube 1 44 by m'eansof a'nut48'in order to prevent leakage of'oil from the interior ofthe-nozzle 45*backaround the outside of the tube 44 to' ,the motor. I The inneredge of the nozzle45' Tis provided with a pluralityofradial notches or slots for apurpose tobe described later.

* A fiexiblefstrip 51 provided with openings 5'2 spaced inaccordance'with 'the spacing of 7 the openings 30 in the frame 27 ,is provided 7 around the circumference of the fraiiie 27 in over lapping relationship with respect to the -openings BO -so that by movingthe strip'51 circumferentially lof the casing 27 the efi'ec-l tive area of theope nings 30 may bevaried in order to control the 'flow of air .to the;

burner.

The'outerend of thetube 44 which projects out past therear end of the casing 32 isprovidedwith a connection 5.3 which i serves to connect it to theshut-off valve 54. Q

: 'lhe shut-off valve 54'isfconnected by, a-line of'piplng 55 including a union'94 toan oiltrip valve the body of which is designated as '56-'andwhich in turn is connected by;the'

pipe 57 to the solenoid valve which is thermost atically controlledby the temperature of 3 the;room or space being heated, in the con-1' ventional manner. The valve 58 is connected by, the pipe 59 to "a strainer60 which in'turn is 'connected'byal ine ofpiping 61 to a'suitable source ofoil. under asuitable pressure."

Oil enters the apparatusthrough the line of piping- "61; strainer 60', pipe '59, passes through the valve 58 and .thenthrough the piping 57, tri'p, valve 5'6 'a'nd piping 55 to the valve 54 from which itIis-I led into the tube and discharged into the interior of the noz- K ale-45. Asjthe'farmature-shaft 34 of the mo-' tor 'rotates, the extension 37 fan '41, nozzle 45 and 'cup .42 are caused. to, rotate therewith. When thefan' 41 is thus, rotated, air

is drawn into the'interior of the frame 27 through-theopeningsj 52 and .30 and forced inw'ardly through'the casings 18 and 19:1.

around the exterior of the cup-42. to thefire 'At the same-time the oil pot.

being dis ij jcharge' d gintothe nozzle "45' s carried to the walls .of the interior 'opening thereof by'centrifu'gal force and when it 'reaches' the notches 5O 'atthe inner.- end thereof it is thrown. outwardlyby the centrifugal forces of the side walls of the cup acting upon it into the cup 42. The oil being discharged through the notches 50 is broken up into a plurality of finely divided particles. Theoil thus discharged into the cup 42 is carried out against the side walls thereof by the centrifugal force acting upon the same. Due to the outwardly diverging relationship 42, the oil is slowly carried out to the open end of "the cup in the form of a thin film, gradually decreasing in thickness to theend of the cup,

around the cup, in the form of a fine mist, it being picked up by the air streamand commingling therewith is carried into the fire pot where it is ignited and burned. Due to the fact that the casings 18 and 19 are positioned within the fire pot, a certain amount of heat is transmitted through the walls thereof and heats the cup 42, and this heat serves to vaporize and gasify a large percentage, and

at times all of the oilwithin the cup 42'by i the time-it is discharged from the open end the fl,-v Inasmuch as the air for combustioii fis passed around the outside of the cup 42 which is cooled thereby, such heat transfer does not affect the cup 42 sufficiently to raise its temperature to a point where the oil within the cup 42 will coke and thus build up undesirable deposits in the cup 42. Further, because of the finenessof the particles of oil dischargedat the open end of the cup '42 into the air stream, I am enabled to use the axial displacement type of fan 41 shown with the, relativel lesser velocity of airsin this construction t an is possible inthe conventional construction now'on themarket,

and this feature serves to provide an almost noiseless operatlng dev ce.

In connection with my burner I provide a:

pilotlight of novel construction comprising a'hollow tube-like casing or member 62 pro videdwith aflange 63 which is secured by the screws 64 to-the front plate 16. A valve 65 charging gas into .theTinterior of the member 62. The member 62 extends from the plate 16 to a point below the end and preferablyrearwardly of the inner open end of the casing 19 where it terminates in an upwardly extending opening 67. The internal cross sectional area of the member 62 gradually increases from the flange 63 to the opening 67. I find that with this constructionwhen the flame of the ilot light is burning in normal condition a ove the opening 67 and a sudden blast of air or other increase in pressure in the fire pot occurs, the flame instead of becoming extinguished as so often occurs in conventional constructions, merely retreats into the member 62 and moves back towards the late 16 within the interior thereof without ecoming extinguished Upon drop in stc- as line is provided with a small tubeor discharge. ipe 66 for dis-v pressure in the fire pot to normal conditions the flame again moves out to its normal' flame into the member 62 without extinguish-' ing it, and this feature is extremely valuable from a safety standpoint as will be readily recognized.

In case, however, that the pilot light should become extinguished from some unat which point it is thrown by centrifugal; force outwardly into the air stream flowing foreseen reason, and to prevent an explosion of the "oil within the furnace which might occur as' a resultthereof, I provide a novel.

valve member 56 is provided with a stem 70 i which projects out past one end thereof. An arm 71 is pivotally mounted at 72 on the valvebody 56 and to its free end a lever member 73 is pivotally secured by the pin 74. A second arm 75 is pivotally mounted on the valve body 56 at 7.6 and is pivotally secured to the arm 73 midway between its ends by the pin 77. The relation of the arm 71 witlrrespect to the end of the stem 70 is such that when the arm 73 is swung about the pin 74 so that the line connecting. the pins 74 and 77 pass inwardly of the axis of the pin 76 with respect to the valve body 56, the arm 71 is drawn towards the body 56 of the valve and exerts a pressure on the at the same time the pressure of the spring 69 acting on the arm 71 through the valve stem 7 0 tends to swing the lever 7 3 closer to the valve body and thus tends to retain the valve member 68 in open position. It will .be noted, however, that should the freeend of the arm 73 be moved away from the body 56 of the valve sufficiently to move the line connecting the ins 74 and 77 outside of the axis of the pin 7 6, the pressure of the spring 69 acting throughthe valve stem 'F0 on the arm 71 will then tend toswing the arm 73 further away from the body 56 and allow the valve member 68 to close so that no oil may pass through the valve. I provide a mechanism for moving the arm 73 to this last mentioned position upon extinguishment of the pilot light in. the following manner :-The end of the pilot light body member 63 adj acent the opening 67 is provided with a horizontally extending flange 78, and to the flange 78 I pivotally secure by means of the screw 79 a strip of thermostatic material 80 formed to provide a 'plurality of reversely 70 suflicient to move the valve member. 68 to permit the flow of oil past the same, and I lit) by meansof rivets 83 or other suitable means. The arm member 82 extends outwardly through a slot 84: in'the plate 16 where it is by the pilotlight, operates to move the arm 82 so that it raises the end 86 thereof to a position such as is indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 5. When the end 86is thus raised to this position the pin 87 on the free end .of the lever 73 may bemoved up into contact with the same in which position the pressure of the spring 69 acting through the stem 70' and arm 71 acts to hold the valve member 68 in open position. Should, however, the pilot lightbecome extinguished, the stripv will be cooled and will contract, tending to swing the arm 82 downwardly, upon the occurrence of 'which the end 86 will engage the pin 87 and move the free end of the arm 63 downciently tomove, the line connecting; the pins 1 '74 and 77 over the axis of the pin 7 6 after. which the spring 69 is free to move the valve member 68 to closed position and thereby prevent further flow of oil to the furnace.

When this happens, further danger of-an explosion within the furnace is eliminated, and notice isthereby' given by the lack of heat that the apparatus has stopped functioning. The pilot light may then be again ignited which will cause the arm 82 to be moved to its upper position and the arm 73 may then be manually moved upwardly, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, so as to again permit the flow of oil to the} mechanism.

,In order to make the above described apparatus as readily serviceable as possible, I

secure an electrical plug receptacle 88, to the plate 16 and provide the electric motor 32 with a suitable conductor 89 terminating in a conventional pull plug 90 which may be :connected into the receptacle 88. I also pro- In this manner I am enabled 'to remove the assembly comprised mainly of the motor 32,

frame 27, fan 41, and cup 42 with their ac companying mechanisms from the plate 16 and mechanism supported thereby by. simply pulling the plugs 80 and 92' breaking the union 94 in the line of pipe 55jand removing the two bolts 29,all of whicli may-be done in the space ofa few seconds This permitsthis unitary assembly to'be removed and .the servicin replaced by: a like assemblyfwhe'never any part -0 it requires attention ofa service man and allows such assembly to be carried to a shop or other place of business. which is properly equipped for the ready and eiiicient repair of thesam'e without tying up'the oper-' ation of the furnace itself foran appreciable length of -time. i c

On the other hand ,v should the'unitaryaas- 16, casings 1s nd 19,

sembl'age of the plate pilot light, oil trip valve mechanism,ors0- lenoid valve 58 become out of. :repair, the as; semblage just described andas shown in Fig. 3, may be removed as described and'then'the last unitary assemblage described be removed from the furnace by the removal of the screws i 17- and the connections to the oil and gas line, and another such unit may be inserted in its place and the first mentioned unit secured theretoin the space of a veryj few minutes, and the last mentioned assemblage removed and repaired, etc-leisure. Further,

of both of the afore mentionedjunits may be *removed 'asa unit-from the furnace by simply removing 'thescrews :17 and breaking v p the oil and gas connectionsand pulling the I wardly away from the valve body 56 suifinace while the original assembly is being -re-- paired. These features make the. above described construction extremely'valuable from standpoint as it permits the ready and e cient repair of the device as a whole or any part thereof with aminimum'of time spent at the point of use, and'a mini-'- mum of time of inoperativeness .of the fur nace itself.

ent invention, it will be obviousthat thesame 1s capable of various modifications and various changes inthe specific structure, and formail changes may be madeinthe specific embodiment of the invention described without departing from the spirit or substance of the broad invention, the scope of. which is com-' mensurate with the appended claims.

What I claim is: v 1. In combination with a furnace provided saidopening and provided with an inwar 1y extending casing,.an outwardly extending Y frame detachablysecured to said member, a

motor telescopically carriedby said frame, and a fan and vaporizing cup carried by the shaft of said motor withinsaid casing, said fan being of the axial displacement type and said cup bein of approximately the same diameter as said fan, the space between said cup and said casingproviding a duct for the passage of air from said fan, said frame, motor, fan and cup being removable from said member and casing as aunit, and said cup 11-5. with an opening therein, a member detachably securable to said furnace for sealinf being wholly exposed upon such removal. 2. In a device of the class described, in combination, a member adapted to' seal an opening in a furnace, a casing carried by said member about said opening and projecting inwardly therefrom, a frameremovably secured to said member and extending outward- A 1y therefrom, a plate'remova-bly clamped between said frame and member, said plate provided with an aperture restricting said opening, a motor supported by said frame, a shaft extension supported by the shaft of said motor and extending through said aperture, and a fan and a vaporizing cup carried by said extension inwardly of said plate and secured to said extension by-coinmon screw means; said frame, plate, motor, shaft extension, fan andcup being removable as a' unit from said member and casing and wholly exposing said fan and on upon such removal, and said fan and cup eing simultaneously removable from said extension and from each other upon loosening said screw means.

3. In combination with'a furnace having an opening therein, a member detachably se-' curable to said furnace sealing the joint between itself and said furnace against the flow of air therethrough, said member being provided with an inwardly extending casing portion the inner walls of which diverge from adjacent its center, an outwardly extending frame secured to said member, a plate clamped between saidf-rame and member pro vided with a central opening of substantially I 5 smaller diameter than said casing,an electric motor secured to said frame, said motor being provided with a shaft extension'projecting. through said opening, a vaporizing cup carried by said extension at the inner end of said casing, the walls of said cup diverging from the bottom thereof and lying-in adja-. cent and substantially parallel relation with respect to the inner walls of said casin an axial flow type of fan secured to sai ex tension between said cup andplate, saidframe being provided with openings therein for the entrance of air into said furnace, and an apertured band surrounding said frame for controlling the effective area of said 0 enin s. F g LE ROY WILCOX. 

